Has It Really Changed
by Black Wyvern
Summary: A year after the Meteor Crisis Reno and Rude have returned to their Turk activities, life is normal. But when Elena comes back bearing information about their presumably dead leader Tseng, it changes everything...


Has it really changed?  
  
By: Black Wyvern  
  
Chapter One, A hope for more in life  
  
Reno sat in his office overlooking the many polluted streets of Neo-Midgar, as it was now called. Many people still called it Midgar; it was just too little time to change its customary name. A year had past since the Meteor Crisis and the destruction of the Shinra Corporation by Avalanche or, the brain-dead tree huggers as Reno enjoyed calling them whenever something was particularly wrong in his life. When Meteor had come crashing down onto Midgar most of the people had already left to the near town of Kalm or were on the outskirts of the city, so the death-toll was not as bad as it could have been. After a while the people of Midgar realized that their was no way they could survive without their city back; Kalm was too small, they couldn't live in tents, and the other towns were too far away to get to without any transportation. So with the help of the millions of citizens, under the watchful eyes of the people who actually knew something about construction, the city of Neo-Midgar rose from the ground up. What was left of the plate had been cleared away and used as building materials for the many homes that had to be replaced. The old presidential tower had also been used for the same purpose. This left Reno slightly torn; the Shinra had of course brought this upon themselves by playing God, but the company had paid him, and pay gave him the opportunity to get boozed up, and that was a very important factor in Reno's life so he would always stay loyal. The streets were not any cleaner since the Shinra times; the new government did not have the time or budget to take care of many public services, they would probably get around to it, eventually. After the corporation's fall, the Turks weren't doing so well and Elena had left them saying that she was going to set her sights farther in life; it didn't surprise Reno one bit, she was never a real Turk; she didn't have the spirit, he never liked her very much, and anyways her loyalties lied with Tseng, not with the Turks, so when their beloved leader had fallen to the sword of Sephiroth she had become annoying and disobedient. He still had Rude, and the both of them was enough to start a new little Turk business here in downtown Midgar, they didn't make near as much gil as they did working for the monopoly power company but, it was enough to pay the rent at their apartment and this small office. Reno thought that the situation was fine money wise but he felt that the Turks had lost their sense of direction, their code of honor; he was no leader. The young man ran his hands through his flaming red hair and sighed,  
  
"Hey Rude what are you doing"  
  
His bald companion, who was sitting across the table from him looked up but did not answer.  
  
Reno sighed again and put his feet up on the desk; he was used to Rude being that way, the man was never one for idle conversation, when he didn't have anything important to say he stayed silent. But hey, some days were just slow and Rude was just not the person to make them go any faster. Just as Reno was going to drift back into thoughts of his run down life there was a knock on the door. Reno got up a little too fast; exited that there was finally a customer, or at least someone to talk to. But, when he got up he banged his shin against the hard wood of the office desk.  
  
"Owww goddamit" yelped Reno. He limped his way to the door as whoever was there knocked again.  
  
"I'm comin, I'm comin, keep your pants on!" He opened the door, still clutching his damaged shin and grinned. Elena was standing at the door her coat was covered in snow; winter was Reno's favorite time of year, the sights, the smells and the amusing fact that he could pee his name in the pure white banks of snow.  
  
"Hello" said Reno a bit too cheerfully, he did not seem surprised at all to see his old companion who had sailed out of his life a good while ago; he acted as if she had been there just the day before: "I was just thinking about you, you were naked and."  
  
"Shut up Reno, I don't have time to piss around, I have some very important news that will work in both our interests" countered Elena the irritation clear in her voice.  
  
"Well come in" said Reno, with the grin still painted on his face.  
  
"Hello Rude" said Elena. She was much more polite towards the big man than to Reno maybe because he wasn't much of a wisecracker. Rude nodded his head in consent, still immersed in deep thought.  
  
"Wow things haven't changed a bit", she continued. Her eyes darting from Reno's messy shirt to Rude's trademark black sunglasses. Satisfied that all was well she took a seat in what was once Reno's chair. The charismatic man, however, seemed not to be bothered by this at all and took his place on the desk.  
  
"So what information do have for us Elena", asked Reno seemingly interested in what she had to say.  
  
"Well, I'll cut right to the chase: you know about the Black Dragon?"  
  
"Yes," replied Rude "They are an underground mako dealing group reportedly operating somewhere in Wutai, right?"  
  
"Exactly, more specifically they sell pure mako and materia to companies that need the stuff to operate large vehicles" replied Elena in a scheming tone of voice, "I've heard, from good sources, that Tseng is somehow involved with this group but, for all I know he could be prisoner or the boss of the whole crowd" her voice had been increasing in excitement as she revealed the precious information to the two men.  
  
Although he didn't show it, the blond woman's words hit Reno like a brick wall. "Calm down Elena I."  
  
"DO YOU EVEN CARE!" yelled Elena who had, by now, gotten slightly overexcited.  
  
"Dear god, guess who else hasn't changed" muttered Reno under his breath.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Uh. nothing, you must be hearing things"  
  
Rude finally cut into the conversation like an angel bearing salvation: "C'mon Elena of course we care, we're just wondering how, with so little information we can find Tseng, I mean Wutai is a pretty big place, and if these Black Dragon people have half a brain, they won't want to be found" he finished his message with the profound authority that emanates from you when you are six feet, seven inches tall.  
  
"Mmm" replied Elena who had clamed down, seeing the sense in Rude's point of view.  
  
"Uh. hey Elena it's about lunch time and I'm getting hungry, why don't you come over to our place and you can whip us up one of your world-famous stews, Rude and I haven't eaten a real meal since you left, and we can speak over what we can do about Tseng with some top-notch food, you know food helps me think. Go put your shoes on and we'll meet you downstairs" said Reno in a cheerful voice.  
  
"Sure!" replied Elena her face lighted up at the compliment. She then scampered out the office door leaving the two Turks alone in their office.  
  
After checking that Elena was well out of earshot Rude grabbed the smaller man by the collar of his shirt and said in a surprisingly calm voice: "Reno, what the hell are you thinking! The day Elena left the only thing I was happy about was that I would never have to eat another morsel of that crap she calls food"  
  
"Hey calm down man, in life you have to make compromises"  
  
"You better have one helluva plan Reno cuz I'm not seeing it" said Rude in answer to Reno's vague excuse. He then dropped Reno to his feet and they too headed out the door down to the streets below.  
  
The little group trudged through the thick snow in direction of the apartment. Even though it was only a few blocks away the amount of snow made progress difficult. As soon as they got to the apartment Elena ran into the kitchen and started preparing the stew. Reno plopped down onto a chair and took out his PHS he waited three rings before he got an answer.  
  
"Hello"  
  
"Yeah, hey Jack it's me Reno"  
  
"What can I do for you?"  
  
"Do you know anything about the Black Dragon?"  
  
"Is the line safe?"  
  
"Of course"  
  
"Good, what do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, are they really based in Wutai?"  
  
"Yeah, somewhere in the Da Chao mountain caves"  
  
"You got anything more specific?"  
  
"Well, logically they have to be deep inside the caves where the tourists don't go, but there have been rumors about people disappearing when they go off the cave boundaries"  
  
"Mmm. well thanks man, hey you think you could meet at the Wutai docks tomorrow at eight?"  
  
"In the morning?"  
  
"Yup"  
  
"Ok fine. What do you have in mind?"  
  
"I'll tell you when I get to Wutai"  
  
With that Reno shut off his phone and effectively ended the conversation.  
  
"Who's Jack?" asked Rude.  
  
Reno just grinned and said: "An old acquaintance who may just be our ticket to Tseng"  
  
"Lunch is ready!" called Elena from the kitchen. The two men got up and headed towards the food.  
  
"So how is it?" asked Elena in anticipation. Seeing her look over to him in wait for an answer Reno answered:  
  
"Oh, uh. it's delicious. I didn't think your cooking could get any better but looks like you proved me wrong again"  
  
"What about you Rude?"  
  
"Yeah what Reno said" replied Rude bring his fork slowly up to his mouth as if every morsel weighed eighty pounds.  
  
"Well I'm full" said Reno, tipping back his chair looking down at the half a plate of food that had escaped his jaws. "Anyway, I have some good news Elena."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That's what I'm trying to tell you. Anyway, we are going to Wutai to meet a friend of mine who has some information about Black Dragon"  
  
The woman's eyes lit up and she ran over to hug Reno in the process knocking him off his chair: "Thank you so much!"  
  
"Hey, hey" he said as he got up and dusted himself off, "Keep your calm, you're paying for our tickets!"  
  
"We'll see" she replied as she walked back to her seat.  
  
Hey hey! Its over! What next? Hmmm. Who knows? Oh well I'm already working on chapter 2 so. if you like head on over to my web-page for the latest info: www.geocities.com/ff7ontheweb or e-mail me: natural_being1315@hotmail.com It's all appreciated! 


End file.
